Customer Reviews

Golden Greats

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very good three-CD set of Garland's music, and I enjoyed it very much. While there are movie hits on here ("On the Atchison..., How About You?, etc.), they're alternate versions of the songs used in the movies, so it's not exactly like having the same song two or three times. There are several duets with Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, and the like, and most of these seem to be ones done for special promotions, outside of the movies, because the singers address each other by their real names. The sound quality is very good, and most of the songs are rather famous.

The only reason I didn't give this five stars if the lack of liner notes, a CD booklet, any information at all. All you get is a list of songs on the back on the jewel case with the composers. None of the male singers in the duets are identified (although it's fairly easy to determine who most of them are), and no dates are given for any of the songs. Judging simply from Garland's voice, they're all from her early career.

Basically, this CD is worth it because of the low, low price. You get many songs for not much money. Unfortunately, you don't get any extras.

Although you don't get any liner notes, etc. this set is worthwhile for any fan of 40s pop or Judy Garland's hits and movie songs, mostly from her Decca years, without having to spring for the Complete Decca Recordings boxed set on Decca. The music on it speaks for itself which ranges from her movie hits (Over The Rainbow, Meet Me In St. Louis, etc.) and her versions of songs such as Swanee, Embraceable You and other favorites. In fact, on some tracks you can hear the surface noise and hiss from the discs as too much noise reduction can actually do more harm than good to the sound of the music. The sound quality and the great music alone make this a 5 star set.

Most of the songs are from her Decca recordings. The only problem is that 5 or 6 don't sound really well and that Easter Parade is as it was shown in the film "That's Entertainment II" where they cut the chorus end. However, most of it sounds well and if you really like her you should have it, principally because it's worth at price.

If you were to only buy ONE compilation of a singer's work in your lifetime, *THIS* should definitely be it! Oh, there may be no liner notes or recording dates or identification of Judy's duet partners here, but you're getting 72(!) songs performed by the 20th century's greatest all-round performer, for the price of 8 or 9 songs.

This is the Judy Garland that everyone FIRST fell in love with in the 1930s and '40s - long before she embarked on a career as a concert artist (and honestly, her voice is infinitely more musical here than it was in the "Capitol Years" which commenced in 1955 and which several critics have deemed to represent her finest work as a singer: well, NO!! The songs in this collection were recorded during the "MGM Years" - when she was a luminary of the Silver Screen - some of them while she was still a teenage starlet, but most of them from the time she was MGM'S number-one female musical star! These performances of Judy's from the '30s and '40s - many among which are from her Decca recordings - *FAR* surpass her "Capitol" recordings, from a purely musical standpoint. Her voice may have gained much more weight and arguably more power in the '50s, but it was not *NEARLY* as versatile or even as flexible as it is in THIS collection).

Judy had a truly fabulous vocal range in the '30s and '40s, being able to generate everything from deep contralto shadings to lilting, semi-classical mezzo soprano counterpoints with her golden vocal chords. This collection truly features some of the finest singing ever recorded by anyone, and demonstrates why Judy was likened to a "canary" (as humorously commented on in one of the songs here) and a "thrush". For a while in the '50s, Judy seemed to degenerate into either a "belter" - when she wanted to give it her all, or yet another "torch singer" - when she wanted to 'tone down'. The '30s and '40s on the other hand feature belting as but *ONE* of her fortes - not THE highlight of her performances as it became in the '50s - and these earlier years essentially reveal a vastly more multifaceted singer. She will *ASTOUND* you with the depth her voice possessed at such a young age, but there are other times in this compilation where she sounds sweeter and more adorable than Doris Day and Deanna Durbin on their BEST days!)

Indeed, the sweetness and the INNOCENCE which give many of the performances collected here that *IRRESISTIBLE GARLAND CHARM* would NOT be found in the majority of her '50s performances - and while they would THANKFULLY return for a while in the '60s (around the time she did most of her TV work), an unfortunate operation in 1964 would damage her vocal chords and rob them of a great deal of DEPTH *AND* SWEETNESS (BOTH of which can be enjoyed at their musical best in this "Golden Greats" compilation).

It has been said many times that Judy became so much more "dramatic" as a singer in the 1950s - but what this really means is that she became more THEATRICAL and OVERT, no doubt as a consequence of her "live", concert performances, where she had to basically "play to the gallery". She was *MORE* than capable of being "dramatic" in the '30s and '40s too, but since she was working primarily in the Film medium then (which needless to say is more naturalistic than the stage), the performances you will hear in this compilation are exceedingly more *NUANCED*, sometimes SUBTLE and even SUBLIME, than what you will hear in later films like 'A Star Is Born' and during the often talked-about "Capitol Years".

Judy's performances in this collection are not only among the most musically satisfying performances ever to mesmerise your ears, but thanks to the expert understanding and judicious selection skills of the individuals RESPONSIBLE for this release, you will hear Miss Garland cover the spectrum of themes from romantic love to religious devotion.....you will be fascinated and captivated as she sings through the range of moods from girlish exuberance to grown-up despair....and you will basically be privy to her running the gamut of emotions from A to Z over the course of 3 discs. One of the greatest tragedies of Judy's ARTISTIC life is that, over the course of her concert years, she came to be identified with mostly frivolous and completely inconsequential, "popular" (as in, 'of the people') numbers like "Chicago" and "San Francisco" - and while this collection has its share of delightfully light and silly songs, they *WORK* splendidly because Judy was STILL VERY YOUNG when these recordings were made.

At the same time, her renditions here of such rare diamonds as "The Birthday of a King", "Sleep My Baby Sleep" and "Love" will make you FORGET ALL ABOUT her later standards like "The Man Who Got Away" and "Rock-a-Bye My Baby With a Dixie Melody" (which, as far as I'm concerned, are like CHEAP TACKY RHINESTONES when pitted against what is featured in the "Golden Greats" treasury).

I have owned this collection for nearly 10 years now, and it will forever be one of MY MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS!! Judy Garland gave people uncountable hours of both JOY and PROFOUND EMOTIONAL INSIGHTS, and this magical compilation is a testimony to that.

This European budget release has no booklet but the sound quality is fine for the age of the recordings. So there are no liner notes but the tracks (with songwriters) are listed on the back of the jewel case.

Compiled from her recordings for Decca, this contains a generous selection of her thirties and forties recordings. Considering her brilliance as a singer, her record as a hit-maker is really quite modest, with only six American top ten hits during the period covered. Charts never tell the whole story. Over the rainbow (the song for which Judy is best remembered) stalled at five, with versions by Glenn Miller and Bob Crosby both selling better at the time. Glenn's version spent seven weeks at number one. Having heard both, I can understand why Glenn's version was a more successful single, but Judy's version is the one that the public wants most these days. This song closes the collection.

Judy's other big hits are all here, these being I'm nobody's baby, For me and my gal, The trolley song (all three being bigger hits for Judy than Over the rainbow), Yah-ta-ta Yah-ta-ta (with Bing Crosby) and On the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe. Most but not all of her minor hits are also here.

The first CD ends with a trio of Christmas songs, two of which (The birthday of a king, The star of the east) were new to me when I bought this. The other is the standard Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Plenty of famous songs from the era are included, quite apart from those already mentioned, with Judy's versions being as good as any I've heard. Among them are I got rhythm, Embraceable you, I wish I were in love again, Swanee, Meet me in St Louis, I'm just wild about Harry, That old black magic, Fascinating rhythm, Blues in the night, Alexander's ragtime band, Easter parade, Zing went the strings of my heart, But not for me, When you wore a tulip, The boy next door and You'll never walk alone. You will probably recognize a few others too.

With 72 tracks, there is plenty of room for obscure but delightful songs. One of these is titled A pretty girl milking her cow. Can you imagine anybody writing a song these days with a title like that? I can't. An equally unusual song title is |Groaner canary and nose. But whatever Judy sings, she performs it superbly.

Anybody with any interest in the music of the forties needs some Judy Garland. This comprehensive collection fulfils that need at a reasonable price.

Although you don't get any liner notes, etc. this set is worthwhile for any fan of 40s pop or Judy Garland's hits and movie songs, mostly from her Decca years, without having to spring for the Complete Decca Recordings boxed set on Decca. The music on it speaks for itself which ranges from her movie hits (Over The Rainbow, Meet Me In St. Louis, etc.) and her versions of songs such as Swanee, Embraceable You and other favorites. In fact, on some tracks you can hear the surface noise and hiss from the discs as too much noise reduction can actually do more harm than good to the sound of the music. The sound quality and the great music alone make this a 5 star set.